Funny you should ask… I never mentioned it…. Meant to – but stuff happens too fast. Ya know?
As some of you may or may not know I do this computer thing from time to time.. part of me doing this computer stuff – occasionally involves a tech-support component (sometimes you just can’t help yourself – and need an “expert”). Quite some time ago – I was involved in a LENGHTY support incident with our backup software provider of choice backup exec – hereafter referred to as ‘BE’ (read this as sitting 6-8 hours on HOLD… waiting for help). While most sane people would see those kind of hold times as a reason to move on to another provider – I’ve always had a very soft spot for BE. Over the years I’ve come to love it – and let’s be honest.. I’m the one doing the damn restores from the backup schemes that I’ve concocted…. This is a matter of personal preference first and foremost. There are many other providers out there – but I feel most at home when using BE.
Anyways – back to my story..
After being horribly miffed at the level of support I was getting from Bangalore – I decided that it was best to do what TFT has always done – AKA: find a way to get closer to the people making the software – thereby opening a conduit to the people whom make things happen…. Just a contact or two is all one needs to bypass the support queue – and the long ass hold times that ensue.
So, in my infinite wisdom, I joined the Beta-test group… J What better way to have access to engineers and features than to be part of a beta cycle? You have a name/face/email/cell of someone inside whom has the power to drive change. It was a match made in heaven - in my eyes. Anyways, fast forward 1.5 years or so – I get an email form a member of the SMB marketing team – noting that some of my feedback in the user acceptance testing forums spurred interest in tft as a company – and the possibility of a case study. Case study turned into co-hosting slot on a webinar a month ago; and now we find ourselves in San Francisco– at a product launch discussing the possibility of doing some additional corporate blogging in 2012. BE 2012 is getting ready to launch worldwide over the next few months and TFT is already fully running it in our production environment (with exceptional success, I might add).
Any of you who know me – know enough to grasp that I’m not one to mince words… If it looks like fecal matter, smells like poo, and is shaped likewise – then it is time to cut to the chase – and call it as it is: a piece of shit… Sorry – I respect people’s time too much to beat around the bush…. Love it or hate it – it’s who I am… and that’s that. While the aforementioned certainly applies to the negative… We find currently ourselves at the opposite end of the spectrum in regards to Symantec’s new BE offering. I’m completely enamored with this product – and being as I’m one that can’t seem hold back – I made an ideal candidate as a “happy customer” reference at their launch earlier today.
So they flew me out… J
USA Today and E-Week were both in attendance – and we discussed TFT’s operations at length (as it related to the product that was launching). Some video was shot – most of which will be used to pull quotes out of context from yours truly (which, I’m ok with – I was NERVOUS as hell – and kept getting distracted by all the people / reflectors / mic-booms). It was really fun talking to the legitimate press today – I feel that TFT has a unique story, vision, and culture of technology… the more people I can tell about “how we’re doing it right” the better…..
- I’m writing most of this while being stuck in traffic – so if it feels fragmented (and poor grammatically)… that’s because it is… sorry… my quality suffers.. tomorrow I’ll be in the air most of the day – but if I happen to see any breast-feeding amish people – you can damn well bet I’ll be taking pictures!!!
Thanks for reading…. as always
./brandon
p.s. the event was at the tesla motors offices... hence all the teslas - and stuff... no tours were given - and this wasn't the manufacturing facility anyways (which is what i would have REALLY wanted to see)... they're busy with launching their new product - the tesla s. have a look http://www.teslamotors.com
